Cleared for Activity
by Thorkone
Summary: Anna's been laid up with an injury for too long. She finally has clearance to start activity. Phil is looked better than a prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich with a hint of pesto aioli. One-shot because I can't leave Phil & Annie alone for long.


The ultrasound gel was like ice against my skin, and I fought the urge to recoil away from it. The monitor wasn't facing us, and Lex's head was bopping along to the soundtrack in her head as she clicked and tapped at the keyboard with one hand, while moving the probe around my belly with the other. She kept a neutral face, pressing and repositioning the wand, clicking, and repositioning again. She finally smiled and looked at me. Phil squeezed my hand.

"Looks good, Annie. You can start light activity anytime you want," she confirmed.

"Really? Everything is okay? Nothing is weird?" I pressed. Lex shook her head.

"Everything looks great. That spleen is all healed up and you should really get active. But start slow. Walk. Build up to five kilometres of walking before you start trying to run again. I want you to be cautious with sparring, avoid getting hit in the side for a while. You're healed, but you're probably still tender, and the organ will be weak for a while yet." She scribbled a few things on a note pad and handed it to me. I sat up and pulled my t-shirt down over the angry red scar on my side.

"This calls for a celebration." Phil helped me sit up. Hardly keeping with the doctor's order to get active. I nodded. Everything had been careful and tentative since I'd been discharged from the hospital.

"A gentle celebration!" Lex interjected.

"I was going to suggest white water rafting or skydiving," I teased as I stood and zipped my jeans up. Phil winked at me, and shot a smirk at Lex. She rolled her eyes.

"I'll warn everyone to stay away from your quarters tonight then?" She sighed. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

It had been two months since I'd been discharged from the hospital. Two months of falling asleep in Phil's arms every night. Two months of passionate kisses cut short by the pain in my side. Two months of every single time we touched making me completely crazy with want. Lex was going to be lucky if I didn't jump Phil right there.

The afternoon dragged. There was too much going on for Phil to sneak away. I couldn't focus on my work at all. I finally decided to turn off my computer and go to the range. Since my arrival at the new base-slash-headquarters, I'd been spending a lot of time practicing with my sidearm. It was one of the few activities I was cleared to do while I healed, and I found I was enjoying the opportunity to get lost in the mechanics of shooting. I got lost in my thoughts a lot since my hospitalization, and working on improving my accuracy and speed on the range helped me get out of my head. It was like therapy.

When Lex had arrived at the base, she was surprised to see me as active as I was. Simmons had shrugged it off. She and I had butted heads a lot in the first couple of weeks I was at the base. She wanted me to spend more time resting. I wasn't sleeping well because of nightmares, and wanted to be tired when I went to bed at night. I never actually won the argument, but Phil had overruled Simmons simply because he was exhausted. Every time I woke up screaming, he would wake up too. And he wasn't sleeping well either. There were times I would roll over in the night and he would be gone from our shared bed. Sometimes he was gone for hours, and he never really remembered where he'd gone in the morning. Just that he was tired and had been restless in the night.

Once I was on the range, I got lost in the rhythm of aiming, shooting, reloading. I was a passable marksman. I was never going to be as good as Barton. I'd discovered Lex was an incredible shot too, and I think that was the only reason she had actually continued to allow me to shoot. She could check on me without seeming like she was checking on me.

Lost in concentration, I didn't hear the door to the range slide open. I put my weapon down and pressed the button that reeled the target back to me.

"I hear you are cleared for activity." Agent May appeared beside me. I jumped, startled.

"I am." My response was cautious. May and I still seemed to be tentative in our interactions. Part of me was convinced that part of her was still convinced that I was going to hurt Phil.

"We should start sparring. You don't want to lose those hand-to-hand skills. They're what saved you," she pointed out. I nodded.

"Sure. Lex says to watch my side, but you're good. We won't need to worry about that," I agreed.

"I want to show you how to protect that too. Now that it's been injured it's going to be weak." She pulled the target off the clip and looked at it. "You've gotten good, Ellis. When should we get together? I'm free later this evening."

"Tomorrow," I was definitive. "No offense, but if I'm going to get hot and sweaty tonight, it's not going to be sparring with you."

May shook her head and stifled a laugh.

"Tomorrow then."

XXX

I purposely avoided Phil for as long as I could. I knew he was busy, and I knew that now that I had the all clear for activity there was no way I was going to be able to prevent myself from launching a full-scale assault on him if I had to be in the same room. I was laying across the couch in the lounge reading a book, Skye was playing on her laptop in the world's most comfortable squashy chair, and Simmons was aimlessly channel surfing. Phil had worked through dinner, and I was giving him to the end of my chapter before I tracked him down.

He walked into the lounge and lifted my legs up, sitting down and dropping them into his lap. I looked over the top of my book and smiled. His responding smile was near feral. Skye and Simmons exchanged glances and grimaces of disgust. Skye repositioned herself, wordlessly pointing out that she and Simmons had dibs on the lounge for the evening. Simmons wasn't so subtle.

"There is a new episode of Cosmos on tonight and you two are not going to ruin it for me!" She waved the remote back and forth between us.

"I have a little more self-control than to leap on Annie in front of you two." Phil's jaw tensed, little enough that only I noticed it.

"Don't think I didn't notice your loosened tie and rolled up shirt-sleeves!" Jemma gestured wildly towards him. Phil raised an eyebrow. I bit my lip, trying to not giggle. "Don't you laugh at me, Anna! With your hair all down and combed until it's shiny, and make-up on. I don't think I've ever seen you in make up. And could that blouse be more low cut? Just shoo, both of you. You have private quarters together, get going!"

Phil lifted my legs and stood, then held a hand out.

"We've either just received Jemma's blessing or have been exiled. Either way, Neil DeGrasse Tyson is serious business, so we should go." His eyes met mine and I got goosebumps. I took his hand and let him lead me off to our room. He slipped his arm around me as we walked down the hall, and leaned in to kiss the side of my head.

"This better be as good as her pesto aioli sandwich," I stopped and turned to face him. His hand slid from my shoulder down to my hand.

"I think you already know it's better." He ran his free hand through my hair and pulled me close. I snaked my arm around his neck and pulled him against me, forcing him to slip his arms around my back to keep me from dropping us to the ground in the hallway. Even though we hadn't abstained from kissing while I was healing, it was hotter than I recalled, simply because I knew it didn't have to stop with the frantic and frustrated make-out session of a pair of teenagers in a parent's borrowed car.

"Jesus Christ!" Trip turned the corner and immediately turned around. "Your room is less than fifteen feet away!"

I started giggling and Phil's teeth clacked against mine. He started laughing and pulled out of the embrace, taking my hand and leading me to our bedroom.


End file.
